Chapter 4
Chapter Four
Charles
Zeke’s coming out changed our lives. Sure, he got asked for a lot more interviews than probably most of the gold medal winners did, but once that and the social media frenzy died down, we were able to work out the actual impact it had on us.
And it was a big one.
An amazing one.
No longer having to hide meant we were able to have real freedom for the first time in our lives. Zeke’s coach had no issues, and the majority of his team was supportive of his coming out. One of the swimmers left for another swim center, but at least he took his homophobia with him quietly.
Zeke groans from his place on the couch beside me. “Another one?”
I snigger as I glance over at his phone. He’s tilting it toward me with a message open on his screen.
Hey hottie. I’ll swallow your swimmers out any day.
I wrinkle my nose. “At least the last one was subtle.”
“Was he though? Fucking hell, what’s going through these guys’ heads?”
“They want your dick.” Isn’t that obvious? “I can’t blame them for that.”
“Not going to get jealous and defend my honor?”
“Do you want me to?”
“Might be nice.”
I take Zeke’s phone and give him a quick peck. “I’m secure enough in our relationship to know you’re not encouraging any of that.”
“I’m secure in our relationship too,” he grumbles. “Still want to rip apart the men who send you porn links.”
“You’ve always been the jealous one out of us.”
I love it too. The way Zeke always makes me feel so treasured and wanted. Everything he does, it’s with me in mind, and I really do feel like I have a partner, which is something I always wanted out of life.
My dads have that kind of relationship, and knowing I’ve found that kind of love too? I can’t believe it.
I take Zeke’s phone and snuggle into his side. “Should we send this person back a selfie?”
“Fuck no. He’d probably end up jerking off over it, and I’m the only one who gets to do that.”
“Talk possessive to me.” I nip at his jaw.
Zeke chuckles and pulls me under him. “You officially graduate next month. No more study. No more coursework. No more burying yourself away in books and forgetting you have a very handsome boyfriend waiting for you.”
“I can honestly say I have never forgotten that.”
“We should celebrate.”
“Oh yeah? How?”
“I was thinking I could take a week off. Maybe we head to New York and see your parents. Catch up with the guys …”
“Or maybe …”
Zeke perks up. “Anything.”
“Could we go away somewhere? Just us?”
His indulgent smile fills me with butterflies. “I’ll book somewhere.”
“Really?”
Zeke’s hands slide up the back of my shirt. “Yup. I want to surprise you. You’ve worked so hard for this. Not even just with the schoolwork, but having to walk away from what your family was expecting from you. You’re so brave.”
My cheeks heat. “Brave is winning a gold medal, then, with the eyes of every athletically inclined person ever on you, coming out publicly.”
“Nah, that wasn’t brave. It was necessary.”
He can call it whatever he wants, but I’ll always see it that way.
My Zeke has never been scared of a challenge, and while it was hard to go through what we did, we always did it together.
That’s the most important part to me. We talked, we checked in with each other.
I still do regret not getting to be there when he won his first gold, and I always will, but I’m also completely confident that he’ll make the next Olympics, and when he does, I’ll be there.
Gold or not, I’m supporting him.
And … “I had an idea.”
“Oh yeah?” He kisses my nose, starting a trail along my cheekbone to my ear.
“You’re going to make me lose my train of thought if you keep that up.”
Zeke pulls back, gray eyes shining. “What is it?”
“Well, you mentioned that a lot of athletes usually end up having to choose between competing professionally or college, right? Like, it’s a lot of work to do both.”
“Well, sure. Competing has a short lifespan. I was so lucky to make it to the Olympics, and I’m in with a good shot for the next one, but after that …
” Zeke shrugs. “Swimming in my early thirties isn’t completely out of scope, but there aren’t a lot of people who do it.
If I was smart, I would have aimed to go when I was younger, but I wanted my degree first.”
“Right.” This is something I’ve been thinking through for a while. “So, I’ve been looking into it, and I thought, maybe, well, with my degree, I’m qualified—”
“Spit it out, Charlie.” He laughs.
“I could be a tutor. For athletes. You know, the ones who travel with the team to make sure anyone who’s still a student wouldn’t miss much.”
Zeke’s eyes have gone huge. “That’s perfect.”
“Yeah, and maybe … you know someone on the swim team who could talk to someone …”
“I’ll make it happen.”
It’s my turn to laugh. “Easy as that, huh?”
“It had better be. I’m too excited by the idea.”
“Well, let’s put a pin in that.” Because if he gets excited, I’ll get excited, and I don’t want to jump the gun right now.
Being able to travel with Zeke whenever he goes away would be wonderful though, and it’s not something I’ll be able to do if I start looking at high schools or colleges to teach at.
“I need to graduate first. The rest we’ll work out as it happens. ”
Zeke agrees, and it feels good to know that even if all our planning doesn’t work out the way we want it to, we have options. Options that we’re both more than happy to explore.
“So …” I fish. “Where are you going to take me?”
“You’ll just have to wait and see.”